So the journey has started. You have already opened up your dream restaurant at a nice location. You also got a Mobile app & an online booking system for your restaurant because you knew it’s trendy. But what now?

You can’t just sit idle on your restaurant’s billing counter waiting for online orders and bookings to suddenly pop up on your mobile app. The traffic will not automatically knock the doors of your website to have a bite of your food. It takes effort to get noticed. And that effort is called Digital Marketing.

The world is getting small. As small as your smartphone screen. According to internetworldstats.com, more than 4.3 billion people (56% of the world’s population) are using the internet today. More than 2 billion people are using at least one social media platform. Close to 40% of the world population is using smartphones. These numbers are enough for any businessman to understand the importance of online advertising and digital branding.

Digital Marketing is a relatively new concept and most dynamic too. The trends, tricks, tools and techniques, everything is changing every minute. Hence, one has to be on his toes to get the attention of target audience as soon as possible. Let’s take a look at the following ways to approach digital marketing of your restaurant online booking system and mobile app.

SEO for your Online Food Ordering System

Billions of queries are addressed by the search engines every hour. This means that people are looking for information about everything online. And here comes your chance to inform them about your business. This can only be done if you get a high rank on one of the first pages of search results. This process is called Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

The essential elements of SEO include sitemaps, image alt tag, 301 redirecting, user-friendly URL structure and duplicate content control, etc. The content of your website/mobile app should have relevant keywords like “online food order”, “online restaurants near me”, “online restaurant booking” and so on. Use pay-per-click (PPC) advertising models for enhanced marketing. Get assistance from platforms like Google Adwords to find out the best keywords for PPC.

All these tools and techniques can improve your ranking on the search engines and ultimately will lead to more traffic on your restaurant booking system.

(Image Source: rca.asn.au)

Social Media Promotions of Your Mobile App for Restaurant Ordering

Promotion on social media is a must. It is more personalized, accessible & most importantly it is affordable. You can target your audience based on their preferences, user-patterns, and demographics. Plus, social media presence has now become more of an obligation for every business which is run online.

But getting attention on social media is a challenge in itself because thousands of businesses are active on social media simultaneously trying to gain the attention of a similar audience. To overcome this challenge, set your creativity on full throttle. Post memes, jokes, and puns to make your customers smile through your ads. Upload pictures of your impressively garnished food to make them drool. And don’t shy away from using video content and ads related to your latest recipes and offerings on video streaming platforms.

Remember, social media is not just a platform for one way communication. Therefore, if a user takes out some time to give you feedback or to ask a question about your restaurant, never ignore them. Spare some time to address their issues and acknowledge their feedback.

Use Influencers who can Advertise Online Food Ordering System for Restaurants

Influencer marketing can really get you results in the form of downloads of the app and traffic on the website. Influencers are those people who have gained popularity on social media through their unique talent and have their own fan-base. These influencers sometimes have much more followers on social media than many so-called celebrities and yet they can promote your product in far less amount.

Choosing the right influencer is the key here. Since you are in the food industry, the food bloggers are the way to go. Tell them to mention you in their blogs subtly without actually making it look like an advertisement. Also, approach local celeb chefs to write a review article about their experience on your app/website and restaurant. This might cost you a little but the impact of these articles can be huge.

Never forget that word of mouth is the best kind of marketing in the digital world also. Therefore, use positive reviews and feedbacks of your app and restaurant in your advertisements. Tell them that if other people are liking it then they should try it too. Your regular customers are the biggest influencers for your business.

(Image Source: hotfridaytalks.com)

Email and SMS Marketing of your Online Ordering System

Although one of the pioneers, still an effective option of marketing, Emails, and SMS should not be underestimated in terms of their potential. It is all about sending the correct message to the right people at a suitable moment. Communicate your latest offers and encourage them to download your app to avail the exciting discounts.

Also, emails & texts can be used to send receipts, bills, confirmations. In this way, you hit two targets with a single bullet. The click-rate to open up a new text or e-mail is very high. Hence, one cannot ignore this method of digital marketing as it has huge opportunities at its end.

(Image Source: consulmate.com)

Conclusion

This article has majorly discussed how digital marketing can be done for your restaurant online systems. But you should not forget that a detailed strategy is pre-requisite for successful digital branding. It needs to have a vision. You have to have a clear idea of your target audience. Do your homework and come out with a plan on segmentation, targeting and positioning. Your strategy should also be the force behind the type of content of your ads.

You must do your market analysis and benchmark with the competition. Use analytics tools like Google analytics to consistently monitor your traffic. Approach marketing gurus and hire digital marketing freelancers to help you in creating relevant content for your website. And lastly, do not forget to serve your customers tastiest food in the town.

Need some help with your marketing, branding or promotional plans? Drop us a message at info@restroapp.com and our team of experts can just make it a cakewalk for you.

Hanna Norris

Hanna Norris is a Blogger by passion and Digital Marketing Specialist by profession at Restroapp. With almost 3 years of work experience, she specializes in Social Media Marketing and Content Management.